


Earl and Maid

by merryghoul



Series: Earl to Queen [1]
Category: Vikings (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Domestic Violence, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2015-10-24
Packaged: 2018-04-25 06:31:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4950229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merryghoul/pseuds/merryghoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Siggy goes to Hedeby with Lagertha and Bjorn.  (AU after 2.01.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Earl and Maid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amoama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amoama/gifts).



Lagertha stopped her horse. She walked towards Kattegat, unsure of who was following her. At best, it was Ragnar, still committed to his idea of having Aslaug for a second wife. Attempting to invite Athelstan for a threesome was one thing; the two of them trusted him. Ragnar was trying to fix infidelity with polygamy, and Lagertha wanted no part of that. At worst, it was a complete stranger, about to ambush and steal from her.

"What's going on?" Bjorn asked. Lagertha hushed him. She drew her sword.

To Lagertha's surprise, it was Siggy. She raised her hands in the air.

Lagertha put her sword back in its scabbard. "Siggy? What are you doing here?"

"I have left Rollo. He believes the gods have offered him a lifetime of humiliation. If that is what he believes, I can no longer be with him. I am free from his pain."

"Why follow me?"

"I believe that is what the gods want me to do. To serve Bjorn and you faithfully no matter what. I wish to follow you in your travels."

"You do not long for Kattegat?"

"There is nothing there for me anymore."

"Very well. Come along, Siggy."

Siggy got back on her horse and rode to where Lagertha and Bjorn stopped.

 

The three of them settled in Hedeby, in Jutland. At first, things were fine between the three of them. The community accepted them with open arms, as if they had belonged there all along, as if they never should've left. They moved into an abandoned farm. Lagertha returned to farming, growing grains and vegetables. She showed Bjorn and Siggy how to farm, and the three of them tended to it the best they could.

The Earl in Hedeby was Sigvard. It was said his last wife was lost in a plague, but no one had proof of her dying during said plague. He noticed the new arrivals as soon as they moved into Hedeby. As soon as Lagertha, Siggy, and Bjorn had settled into their longhouse, Sigvard rode out to their new residence. "Do you have a man of the household?" was the first thing he said when he stepped off of his horse.

"Yes," Bjorn said to Sigvard. "I am the man of this household."

Sigvard laughed. "I meant a _man_ of the household, not a boy."

"Bjorn is correct," Lagertha said. "He is the man of the household."

"Where is his father?"

"In Kattegat. I am divorced from him."

"So you decided to divorce your husband and start a farm in Jutland with a boy and some woman."

"Yes. What is wrong with that?"

"It is common knowledge that a woman, let alone two women and a boy, cannot tend a farm by themselves."

"That is nonsense. I have tended a farm by myself while my ex-husband was away at sea."

"That is the exception, not the rule. If you don't get a husband, your farm will not survive."

"We are fine. Thank you..."

"Earl Sigvard of Hedeby. I'm willing to offer my hand in marriage to save your struggling farm."

"I refuse your offer, Earl Sigvard."

Sigvard returned to his horse. "My offer is always available. Whenever you are willing to accept it, I can be found at my residence." He rode away.

"He never noticed me," Siggy said.

"I assume he prefers blondes. This Earl is not like Haraldson."

"I sense that."

"I prefer your company. You have a heart. I have the feeling he doesn't."

 

Their farm didn't survive long. The soil on the farm couldn't sustain their crops. The crops either grew small or they didn't grow long. The three of them went hungry for days at a time. Three months later, after a barley plant died, Lagertha called Siggy into their longhouse, leaving Bjorn outside.

"I have decided to accept Earl Sigvard's hand in marriage."

Siggy shook her head. "You can't do this, Lagertha."

"The gods have decided to not bless us with crops. If I do not do this, we shall go hungry."

"Sigvard treats Bjorn poorly. He comes over to our farm to belittle him. He treats me as if I don't exist. There has to be another way."

"We do not have enough food to move to a different village. And we cannot live off of meat alone. We have no choice."

 

Before a wedding, the bride and select female attendants would go to a steam house to prepare the bride for marriage. The preparations--hot rocks splashed with water to make them steam, Lagertha being swatted by branches and told things about marriage she didn't care about by Sigvard's female relatives--were over. It was time for Lagertha to wash the sweat off her body. She cleaned herself in a wooden tub inside the steam house.

Sigvard's female relatives had retired to his longhouse to prepare to dress Lagertha for the wedding. Siggy, however, had decided to stay in the steam house with Lagertha. She stepped into Lagertha's tub, dunking and cleaning herself in the water.

"This water is supposed to make me fertile," Lagertha said, alarmed. "But I doubt that it will. I believe the gods have given me all the children I was meant to have."

"If the gods will not bless you with more children, maybe they will bless me. And we shall raise the child together."

"How?"

"I'm sure the gods will make it happen in some way."

Lagertha said nothing, looking around the bathhouse instead.

"You are worried about Bjorn?" Siggy asked.

"Yes."

"Sigvard is a bastard. But Bjorn is brave. He can handle Sigvard."

Lagertha looked around the steam house again.

"Are you still worried?"

No response.

Siggy stepped put of the tub, grabbing Lagertha's hands. "I have a remedy for you."

Lagertha stepped out of the the tub. Siggy fell to her knees.

 

Sigvard arrived in the steam house as Siggy was serving Lagertha. He couldn't see or smell them making love, but he heard Lagertha crying out in pleasure.

Sigvard couldn't do anything about Lagertha seeking out satisfaction from Siggy--not before his wedding and not in front of the public. But he promised to punish his wife's infidelities as soon as he could.

 

After their wedding, far away from his kinsmen, Bjorn, and Siggy, Sigvard slapped Lagertha across her face. 

"Why did you do that, husband?"

"I heard you and your maid in the steam house."

"She has a name, Sigvard. It is Siggy."

"I realize that. You had sexual relations with her."

"She is of no threat to you or your position."

"So you do not deny having sexual relations with your maid?"

"As I said, Siggy is of no threat to you, Sigvard."

Sigvard slapped Lagertha across her face again. "You are my wife, not your maid's. I am the one who has the right to pleasure you, not her. She is never to sleep with you again."

They didn't consummate their marriage on their wedding night.

 

For years Sigvard verbally abused Lagertha, Siggy, and Bjorn away from public view. He also continued to hit Lagertha. There was nothing the three of them could do. The Northmen condemned violence against women, but Sigvard was careful not to leave evidence on Lagertha. He knew how valuable his position as Earl was.

The years of abuse Lagertha suffered made her more and more fearful. Sigvard's putdowns and violence made her forget that she once raided with her husband and his allies, taking on whoever stood in their way. Now she was fighting to stay alive while attempting to keep Bjorn and Siggy safe. And to keep them safe, or so she thought, she didn't tell them about Sigvard hitting her.

Then Bjorn witnessed Sigvard slapping Lagertha across her face. He confronted Lagertha about it, but he felt Lagertha wasn't listening to him. So he told Siggy. 

Siggy waited until the two of them were in Sigvard's steam house to talk to Lagertha about Sigvard's abuse. The two of them were washing in a wooden tub when Siggy said "Bjorn told me Sigvard has been hitting you. Is this true?"

Lagertha said nothing.

"Has he told you to keep quiet because he wants to retain his position as Earl?"

Lagertha paused before saying "No, he is not tearing us apart." Lagertha's voice was shaky, cautious, fearful. The pride she once had in her voice was gone.

"The next time he touches you, I will kill him."

"You can't."

"I'll kill Sigvard. I'll kill Sigvard in front of all of Sigvard's guests at one of his gatherings."

"We will be banished from Hedeby. We will have to roam from town to town, and if they hear of what you've done, we may die in the wild."

"We won't."

 

It was after Lagertha and Siggy returned to Hedeby that they got their chance--to expose Sigvard as the abusive person he was.

Despite Sigvard's opposition, Lagertha, Siggy, and Bjorn returned to Kattegat to help Ragnar and their friends defeat Jarl Borg. The three decided to allow Bjorn to stay in Kattegat. Ragnar, unlike Sigvard, would allow Bjorn to go on the adventures he craved to go on. But Lagertha promised Sigvard that she would come back. And Siggy loved Lagertha too much to stay behind in Kattegat with Bjorn.

Lagertha and Siggy returned to Sigvard's longhouse to find him drunk around a small grouping of men. He stopped singing when he saw the two of them in the longhouse. "My wife and her slave have returned to me." He scoffed. "That's good."

The men around him chuckled. 

"My wife and her slave went without my permission. But she and her pet have come back. And I love my _wife_ for it. After all, what man wouldn't be pleased at the return of such a wife and her pet?" 

Lagertha grabbed Siggy before she could run up to Sigvard and do something she'd regret.

Sigvard raised a drinking vessel in the air. "Skol."

The men around Sigvard raised their vessels and said the same.

"Skol, husband," Lagertha said.

"I see my stepson has not returned with you."

"My stepson hates you. He prefers the company of his father."

Sigvard laughed. "Ragnar Lothbrok? The man who believes he is descended from Odin?" Sigvard laughed again, and some of his men laughed with him, too. "You know who you should have left in Kattegat? That whore you call a maid."

"She is not a whore," Lagertha said.

"They sleep together. They have always slept together. I do not matter to my wife, my wife that I have been faithful to. You can sleep with your whore tonight. I have made other arrangements." Sigvard left the company of his men.

"I can't wait to kill him," Siggy whispered in Lagertha's ear.

 

A few nights later, Sigvard gave Siggy the motivation to justifiably kill him. Somewhat. Sigvard hosted another dinner. He drank to excess before the gathering. Everyone could tell.

He seated Lagertha by his right side and seated Siggy in the furthest seat away from him on his left. But when Sigvard started asking Lagertha about why she didn't smile by his side, and especially when he exposed her breasts in front of their company, proclaiming they were just as great at Freya's, that was when Siggy struck.

Siggy carried around a knife. It was intended for everyday tasks, but Sigvard's treatment of Lagertha--in public, even!--enraged her to the point that she walked up to where Sigvard was sitting. She jabbed Sigvard in the side with her knife, puncturing his lung. Sigvard thought Siggy punched him hard in the ribs, but he discovered she had stabbed him when he looked at her, trying to insult her.

Siggy grabbed Sigvard's sword. Although she found it heavy, she was able to behead him.

 

Since Sigvard had no male heirs to his title, Lagertha became the Earl of Hedeby.

Lagertha was more business-oriented than her ex-husband. The drunken gatherings filled with song were phased out, and the insults were no more. Lagertha's concerns were of the welfare of the people she led--making sure they had enough to eat and making sure they were protected from nature and invaders.

But at night, Sigvard would still haunt Lagertha's dreams. Bjorn was younger in them, and Sigvard would mock him relentlessly. He'd insult Siggy for petty things. And Sigvard would hurl insults and batter Lagertha. 

Lagertha would wake up. Siggy was in her bed now. The people of Hedeby didn't care about who their Earl slept with. They cared more about the welfare of their town. Siggy noticed Lagertha waking up from her nightmares. "Did you dream about Sigvard?" Siggy would ask.

"Yes."

"He's gone. Go back to sleep."

Siggy held Lagertha as tight as she could as the two of them fell asleep. It was Siggy's way of saying that as long as she was around, Sigvard's ghost would never haunt Lagertha.


End file.
